Couple driven away from a driveway

Shahnaz and Muhammad Siddiqui came to the United States eight years ago for age-old reasons cited by generations of immigrants.

They left an untenable political environment in Pakistan and gravitated to Albany to be near family and educational opportunities for their three sons.

They selected the foreclosed home they bought in 2003 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for a more prosaic reason, familiar to almost anyone who has lived in Albany: It came with off-street parking.

“We made it very clear to the Realtor that we needed a house with a driveway,” said Shahnaz Siddiqui.

Their deed seems to describe two adjacent lots in the Pine Hills neighborhood, including the strip of land containing the driveway, being sold “together.” The real estate listing described “two separate lots … to be sold together … deep, wide lot with loads of parking.” The title insurance they purchased with their bank mortgage also seems to describe the two adjacent lots.

The driveway, which extends back from Myrtle Avenue along the west side of their house, worked out well for the Siddiquis, whose sons now are grown and attending college and graduate school in the area.

They finished off a rear mudroom and installed a door in an existing archway to keep out the winter cold between trips to and from the car. In April, they spent $4,700 to have the driveway paved.

The driveway access became especially crucial as Muhammad Siddiqui’s health began to deteriorate last year, forcing him, at the direction of his doctors, to take a leave from his work at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Siddiqui, 56, has had multiple heart procedures since last fall, turning even a short walk into a chore.

So, it was all the more upsetting when the Siddiquis were effectively evicted from the driveway they’d been using for six-and-a-half years.

In June, public records show, an Albany man named Stephen Thomas Zborowski bought the narrow strip of land that contained the driveway ­for $2,000 from the former owner of their house, a woman who lost the home when HUD foreclosed.

Records show Zborowski, who owns a rental property across the street, transferred the land the next month to his company, Steve Thomas Real Estate LLC.

Then, one day during the summer, the Siddiquis found a wooden mail box they had placed at the edge of the driveway tossed on their front lawn. Soon, a chain-link fence went up between their front yard and the driveway. A sign placed at the back of the driveway, a few steps from the family’s vegetable garden, warns in bold capital letters:

“Private Parking. Illegally Parked and Unauthorized Vehicles Will Be Towed or Booted at Vehicle Owner’s Expense. 24 Hours A Day, 7 Days A Week.”

The sign includes the name and phone number for a towing company, a list of fees, and the number for the Albany Police Department Traffic Division to call in case of violation.

Under orders from city officials, the Siddiquis have boarded up the rear exit to their house, since it encroaches on a lot the city says they don’t own.

To leave or enter the house, Muhammad Siddiqui now must descend and climb a steep set of a dozen concrete steps that leave him winded and wincing from pain in his chest when he reaches the top.

The Siddiquis, who remained remarkably quick to smile and laugh as they welcomed three journalists into their home last week, shared their story with me, photojournalist John Carl D’Annibale and our newsroom colleague, Azra Haqqie, who speaks Urdu and helped with translations.

They showed us stacks of documents, including their deed and title insurance, that include language seeming to indicate the driveway is theirs. They hired a lawyer to try to negotiate a settlement with the buyer, but gave up when Zborowski stood firm on a $25,000 price to sell them the thin strip of land that holds their driveway and they could no longer afford the legal fees.

“He offered to sell it to them for substantially more than it was worth,” said Seth Finkel, the attorney who represented the Siddiquis for a time and reviewed the tangled history of the property.

Meanwhile, Zborowski has been ratcheting up the pressure on the Siddiquis by calling in officials from Albany’s building and codes department, who have taken his side in the matter.

“Guess what? It’s not their lot,” said Building and Codes Division Director Nick DiLello, when I called to ask about the situation. “Somebody else bought that lot.”

What’s more, DiLello said, since the adjoining lot didn’t belong to them, the Siddiquis’ installation of the side door near the back of the house was illegal, and their house improperly encroaches on the other lot.

“You can’t have an opening within 3 feet of the lot line. That’s state code,” DiLello said. “That door should never have been constructed.”

Finkel and the Siddiquis’ current pro bono lawyers say it’s clear that mistakes were made during the transactions involving the former owner, HUD and the Siddiquis, but it remains uncertain when and how the errors were made and who was responsible.

In any case, the problems were not caught by lawyers, the bank, HUD officials or the title insurance company when the closing took place in 2003.

The former owner apparently unknowingly retained ownership of the driveway, despite the HUD foreclosure. Taxes were levied on the lot, but there was no one to accept the bills at the driveway mailing address.

A notice of unpaid taxes for the lot appeared on the Siddiquis’ door last fall, and Muhammad was making arrangements to sort out the situation when he was hospitalized with a heart attack. By the time he had recovered sufficiently to make a new appointment, Finkel said, he was told “it’s been taken care of.”

As it turns out, “taken care of” meant their lot had been bought out from under them.

When Muhammad Siddiqui went to City Hall seeking help and answers, he said, he was confronted by a rapid-fire barrage of questions from city officials.

“It’s just like I’m not in the United States of America,” he told me. “It’s like I’m living in Pakistan.”

I’ve tried to speak with Zborowski, leaving messages at both his work and home numbers, but have received no response.

I don’t know how strong the Siddiquis’ chances of reclaiming their driveway are.

According to DiLello, Zborowski now is seeking city zoning approval to use the driveway for parking for his tenants across the street.

The Siddiquis now have new lawyers, George Carpinello and Tom Higgs of the Albany office of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, who are working pro bono on their behalf.

“We volunteered to, without charge, help them in whatever way we can,” Carpinello said. “We are exploring every potential remedy that we think is available. It’s very unfortunate that someone else was able to purchase the driveway from the previous owner.”

I also contacted Bob Scofield at the Albany field office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development last week, and he contacted the agency’s home ownership center in Philadelphia.

“They are recalling the file and will look into the situation to find out what transpired,” he said.

We’ll let you know what happens.

Research Director Sarah Hinman and staff writer Azra Haqqie contributed to this report. The Advocate can be reached at 454-5700 or advocate@timesunion.com. The Advocate appears in print Thursdays and Sundays